Special Populations Notebook

1. Special Populations Notebook Jordan Bush EDUC 2301 Ms. Felty 2/26/16

2. Bulletin Board 1 Description: This board was made as a tool for helping children learn the meanings of the parts of speech. The teacher and children identified the parts of speech in stories they were reading, wrote them down, and placed them on their places in the “parts of speech tree.” How To Make: Place dark green paper over bulletin board. Cut out of brown paper the shape of a tree including as many limbs as parts of speech you plan on including. Label each branch, and cut out color coded leaves for each part of speech. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/210684088788452073/ My Uses: Learning the parts of speech us very difficult for many children, so the use of this bulletin board would prove very beneficial. I would use the board the same way that the original creator of it did. The only changes which I might make, would be to add more limbs (parts of speech) as the school year went on (depending on the grade I was teaching) . Also, it might be a fun change for students to simply put words they hear every day on the tree, instead of only words out of story books.

3. Bulletin Board 2 Description: This board was designed and used at a middle school in an effort to inform children that math is not just a class you have to take, it is also a vital part of practically everyone's future career. Pasted onto the board are a lot (though definitely not all) of the careers which most definitely require at least a basic knowledge of mathematics. http://coloring.ninja/middle-school-math-bulletin-boards How to Make: Cover the bulletin board with a white sheet of paper. Put brown border around edges. Cut out (large) the letters needed to spell out “Think You Don’t need Math?” Then in smaller letters cut out “If you want to be a(n).” Staple these phrases up, and then cut out plenty of multi-colored rectangular pieces of paper, and white down careers on them. Staple on the careers. My Uses: I would use this board the same way, though not just in middle school, but also most grades of elementary, and possibly even high school. The only change I might make would be to let the students figure out which careers needed to be on the board, and let them write them down themselves. This board could also be done for any other subject the students had.

4. Bulletin Board 3 http://quoteimg.com/social-studies-bulletin-board-ideas/www.myclassroomideas.com%5Ewp-content%5Euploads%5E2013%5E03%5Eegyptian-adventure-bulletin-board-idea.jpg/imgarcade.com%5E1%5Esocialstudiesclassroomdecoratingideas%5E Description: This board was created by a history teacher to help her students learn famous quotes and the men and women behind them. She posted the quote, and the person who said it, as well as a picture of the person, and a short description of them. How to Make: Staple a large piece of red paper over the bulletin board, and put a red white and blue border around the edges. Chose what quotes need to be on the board and print them, along with the photo and information that goes with them, of. Staple the information onto the board My Uses: I feel that there are endless ways this board could be used. From children doing the research that would go on it, to children trying to match the person to their quote, the interactive qualities of this board are huge. There are also numerous ways this board could be set up, such as in a timeline or by categories like “inventors” and “war heroes”.

5. Bulletin Board 4 Description: A 4th grade teacher made this for her class to assist them in their lessons about Mississippi. She placed on the board many interesting facts about the state, including VIP’S from the state, as well as the states location in the U.S.A. She made the board more eye-catching for her young students by including 3ditems How to Make: Place a piece of yellow paper over the bulletin board, and piece paper border around sides and bottom border. Drape lights and material on top border. Chose and print off state information that you want on the board. Arrange prints on board, being sure to include a few 3d items to catch children's eyes. Cut out letters for ”State the Facts”, and staple them to the top of the board. http://teachinghappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2011/06/bulletin-board-ideas-linky-party.html My Uses: I feel that this board could be used in my classroom the same way as the 4th grade teacher used it. I could use it for any state, or even any country, that the class was currently learning about. Again, it might be more interesting to the students, if they got to help research and design the display.

6. Bulletin Board 5 Description: A teacher created this board so that her Kindergarten class could interact with her healthy food lesson. With this board, she could assist the children in organizing their three healthy meals of the day, by having them pick something out of the proper sections of the food pyramid. How to Make: Place a large piece of yellow paper over the bulletin board, and place a blue border over the sides. Spell out in cut-out letters “Create Your Own Healthy Meal” at the top of the board. On the left side of the board, place a cut out and laminated food pyramid, and on the right, three paper plates. Label everything. Then print, cut, and laminate the foods, and, using Velcro, place them in their proper place on the food pyramid. http://www.pecentral.com/BulletinBoard/ViewBulletinBoard.asp?ID=1498 My Uses: I would use this board in the intended way, as well as others. Having the children ignore the plates, and simply place the foods in the correct place on the pyramid, would provide a great learning tool, especially for older students, who better understand the way the food pyramid is set up.

7. Article 1-Using Technology for Effective Parent-Teacher Communication Written by: LianeWardlow, Senior Research Scientist, Pearson Center for eLearning In Pearson’s Teaching in a Digital Age research study, we seek to find out what factors make educational technology most effective. We have worked with 12 of the League of Innovative Schools districts around the country to find out how teachers are using technology most effectively to improve their teaching and increase student learning. A major focus of the research has been to identify the instructional strategies that teachers use that lead to better learning outcomes. However, another equally important part of the study examines how technology can be used to improve learning indirectly: for example, the ways technology can foster greater communication between home and school. Parents and teachers are two of the most influential contributors to a student’s educational success. We know that good communication between student and teacher is one major key to educational success, but what about communication between teacher and parent? When parents and teachers communicate with one another, they are able to support student learning together more effectively. As a team, the two can work to create the best possible environments to foster physical, emotional and intellectual well-being for students. Luckily, recent technological advances have enabled teachers to communicate with parents on a more regular basis, and in a more efficient manner. During focus group discussions, teachers have told us they find that communicating with parents is now possible “24/7-anytime, anywhere.” Technologies like email, texts, websites, electronic portfolios, online surveys and video chat applications like Skype and Google Hangout have made communication between parents and teachers more timely, efficient, productive, and satisfying for both parties. Additionally, many teachers use online calendars, which can be accessed at any time, from almost anywhere, so that parents can schedule meetings, conferences or volunteer at school. Teachers also create online homework schedules, homework logs and online grade books. These digital tools allow parents to check on their student’s work and to gauge how well their student is doing in school. These tools also provide them with the opportunity to praise their student for positive performance and to intervene early if there is a sign of a problem. It is important for teachers and parents to have meaningful and regular communication with one another to ensure that the student is doing well both in school and outside of school. If the child is sick or perhaps dealing with the a family issue, then parents can reach out to teachers to let them know that their student might be having an “off” day. Likewise, teachers can report back to parents on student behavior and academic progression in a timely manner. Despite the fact that some teachers struggle to engage parents, today, more than ever, many parents are demanding that schools provide them with timely information about their child’s academic progress. Parents really want to hear about their child’s academic performance and behavioral expectations, and technology is enabling them to do so in an easy and convenient manner. They expect this information to be communicated to them regularly and early, before reporting periods end, while issues can still be addressed. Parents and teachers alike would be well served to seek out opportunities to communicate with one another on a regular basis to ensure that all students have their physical, emotional and intellectual needs met. New technologies have made communication between home and school more efficient, and improved in both quantity and quality. When parents and teachers communicate with one another, they are able to work towards their common goal of facilitating the best educational experience possible for students. Visit our Teaching in a Digital Age webpages to learn more about how technology can be used to enhance communication, improve teaching, foster collaboration, and increase learning. http://www.digitalpromise.org/blog/entry/using-technology-for-effective-parent-teacher-communication

8. Article 2-Using a classroom webpage to communicate with parents Written By: Sidney Brown CONSISTENT COMMUNICATION BETWEEN TEACHERS AND PARENTS can be a complicated goal to achieve. Busy teachers find it hard to take time out of their day to make phone calls or write notes to working parents who are difficult to contact. Yet administrators, teachers, and parents continue to strive for regular interaction as a way of involving parents in classroom life and improving student achievement. Kathleen Eveleigh, a first grade teacher at Mary Scruggs Elementary School in Chapel Hill, communicates with parents daily about activities occurring in her classroom by integrating a classroom webpage with her daily instruction. Using a classroom webpage to connect classrooms and communities Kathleen Eveleigh gathers her first-grade students on the floor in front of her to write a summary of the school day’s events. Many classes set aside time for daily news. The difference in Kathleen’s room is that rather than writing student’s sentences on the board or a piece of chart paper, she types their news into a computer keyboard connected to a wall-mounted TV screen. These daily summaries are immediately posted to the classroom webpage. Kathleen began posting these daily summaries last year when her current students were her kindergarteners (she “loops” and follows her kindergarteners each year to first grade). The positive response from families was immediate. Working parents tell Kathleen that they check the site each day before going home or picking up their child from school. Before, a typical conversation between parent and student might have consisted of the parent asking, “What did you do in school today?” and the child responding, “Nothing” or “Played.” With the classroom website, a parent or caretaker can build on the information conveyed in the daily summary and ask more specific questions such as, “I read that Mrs. Eveleigh is reading Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. What happened to Charlie today?” or “Tell me about the Irish dancing you learned in PE.” Extended family members and friends also enjoy checking the class webpage to see what children are doing. One student’s relative responds to the site and sends news through email from his job in Turkey. Other emails come from teachers and students from across the country who find information about Kathleen’s site through the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF), which posted an article and video highlighting the use of technology to create community with parents and students at Scruggs Elementary. (For more information and to view a video that includes scenes of Kathleen writing a daily summary with her students, visit the GLEF website.) Kathleen uses these emails as further opportunities for literacy connections as she facilitates replies to email from the class, small groups, or individual students. One parent sent this email (the names have been changed): I’m so glad you’re updating the webpage. I love hearing what you did everyday. Ted’s brother Harvey* was at home sick this week. We both read it together before Ted came home and then we would surprise him by knowing what he did at school. Students use the class webpage to connect to the classroom from home. A student who is at home sick can log on to the site to see what happened in class while he was absent. Another student may insist that her family log on to the site when she gets home from school so that she can read the daily message to her family. The connection between homes and schools is facilitated by Scruggs’ Tech@Home program, an initiative funded by a grant from BellSouth that provides home Internet access devices to families without computers based on financial need.1 http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/689

9. Article 3-Tech-Savvy Ways to Connect the Classroom and the Home Written By: Megan Power Clear communication is one of the keys to success in school and in life. As the technology in our parents’ and students’ hands change, so should the way we communicate with them and keep them informed and involved in their education. Several years ago I happily shed the paper newsletters that I dreaded writing and wondered who read. I have also recently gone away from the mass emails informing and updating parents of the weekly happenings. Since evolving my communication methods and embracing the world they live in, I feel my students and parents are more informed than ever. Read my tips below to learn more about some useful parent and student communication tools to try in your classroom. You might be surprised to discover that you and your students are already using many of them outside the classroom! When talking to educators about technology, I often find that they cringe at the thought of adding something more to their plate. Technology is not designed to make your life harder. It is designed to take something and make it work better and easier, essentially taking less time to do the task at hand. I like to say that technology helps you to work smarter, not harder. Please take a look at some of these parent, student, and teacher communication tools and let us know if you have used them or what you think of them. Class Facebook Page Currently there are more than 1.3 billion active Facebook users. Almost fifty percent of Facebook users log in each day. Even more surprising, 680 million users access Facebook on their mobile devices. Last year I finally joined the Facebook world. As I uploaded pictures of my own children to share with friends and family across the country, I started to think about this as a tool for classroom communication. It is such a quick and easy way to update parents on upcoming events or daily classroom happenings. As I was writing this blog post I just paused to type in a quick reminder about a parent meeting for an event we are having in my classroom. Parents that can’t attend but would like to help can just respond back. It’s that easy. You have all responses on one page, easy to see, instead of email chains in which each person “responds to all” and you wind up with many emails that are hard to keep track of. In younger grades when you are planning a celebration or class activity and you need supplies, you can just post it in Facebook and parents can quickly sign up to bring things in. No more duplicate items or having to communicate that another person already signed up to bring the same item. Also think of it as a teaching tool in the upper grades. You can allow students to pose questions about homework and get other students' or the teacher’s responses. Students can even share their thoughts on an assignment and collaborate on a project. The possibilities are endless and I have just begun exploring them this year. Ask your students if their parents have a Facebook account or if they have an account themselves. Most likely, they will. I teach at a Title 1 school and almost all of my parents already had Facebook accounts. Facebook is a tool that most of my parents were already checking daily, and it has been great for our classroom! Photo Sharing A picture is worth a thousand words. Shutterfly is a great way to digitally share the events and happenings in your classroom. Not only can you create photo albums online, you can also privately share them with your students' families. Parents can even purchase class photos and videos straight from the site. I am working this year to have a parent volunteer create and update this page for my class.

10. Article 3 (Continued) Class Blog Up until last year, I did the typical primary grade morning message. But there was just something that didn’t make sense about writing the message with the students before they even had their day. Last year we began a class blog. At the end of the school day we would discuss what we did that day and use this time as a modeled or shared writing activity. The kids enjoyed taking pictures and adding it to our blog. Read our class blog from last year. You will notice that we usually wrote Mondays through Wednesdays because of scheduling and that the blog stops in March when I went on maternity leave. This summer I came across Blogmeister and I am excited to try it out. You can create a free blog Web page as a class as well as separate blogs for each student. I think this will be an incredible way for my students to share their writing and get comments back. At Back to School Night I surveyed my parents to see if they would read our class blog and comment back, and 100% said yes. I am planning on starting our class blog portion in October and adding the student blogs in January when my kindergartners are a little more ready and can write. Online Calendars Once I stopped writing my weekly or monthly newsletters I went to an online calendar format for sharing our class happenings. This was a great way to make my classroom news and activities more interactive. I linked up videos and Web sites to these calendars so parents just had to click in the calendar to get more information. Secure Social Learning Network Sites These are secure social networking sites where teachers, students, and parents share and communicate in a secure and media rich environment. Edmodo is great for tracking assignments and assessing students' performances. eBoard and Blackboard both allow students to see weekly assignments and post on discussion boards. Hotchalk lets teachers communicate with students and manage classroom tasks. Parent Teacher Network enables parents and teachers to have group chats and send mass messages.  Online Surveys Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool. The site makes it easy for you to customize your surveys with your own questions types, and you can collect responses from your class and parents by simply sending them the URL.  Technology should make communicating with students and parents easier and make this communication fit better into your lifestyle. I have tried many of the tools I wrote about above and they all worked great. It all depends on you and your class dynamics. Since I am a mom of a 22-month-old and a 4-month-old, getting on the computer is difficult. A Facebook page that I can add to right from my mobile phone has fit better into my current lifestyle. I do not recommend using all of these communication tools at once. Think about what you do for parent communication and which tool might make that a little easier for everyone. Then give it a try and see how it works. Technology is here to make our busy lives a little easier. So embrace the changing world and try to evolve your communication tools. I would love to hear about the tools you use for parent communication and if any of the above mentioned tools has worked for you. Happy communication! Smiles, Megan http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2010/09/parent-teacher-student-communication-going-beyond-paper-newsletters-and-emails

11. Article 4- 7 Effective Parent Teacher Communication Tips Written By: John Halloran Many schools today have set clear goals for increasing "family engagement," and are rolling out systems and programs to reach parents. More than information about the school, parents want to know what their kids are doing in the classroom. Providing parents with this information can create strong and effective partners for teachers. Here are 7 tips to create a robust parent-teacher communication plan that leverages the power of your students’ families. Set Your Objectives Don’t communicate with families simply to check a box on a checklist. Create a conversation in order to further your aims in the classroom. Do you want to have better student attendance? Do you want to bring more parents into the classroom to share professional experiences with students? Whatever your goals are, keep them in mind when  designing your plan. Communicate High Expectations Research has shown that parental expectations are one of the strongest predictors of student achievement. Your parent-teacher communication plan should be designed to set clear, consistent and high expectations for student performance in class. This will put parents on your side and enable them to reinforce your expectations in the home. Communicate Early & Often When the time comes that you need to execute a parent-teacher communication with a family about academic or behavioral problems in the classroom, the family’s reaction is far more likely to be supportive if you’ve already demonstrated you commitment to high standards. Communicating high standards from the beginning for the year, will set you up to have much more objective conversations with families about individual students. Communicate about the Entire Classroom, as well as Individual Students Make sure that parents are aware that you’re responsible for more than just their student. Setting this context will help parents see your point of view when and/if you need to make a decision that is best for the group, but which might not be ideal for each individual student. Be Aware of School wide Communications Parents will not only be hearing from you. The school will be communicating with them about school wide issues as well. You don’t want parents to feel like the only thing that is being communicated to them is fundraising requests. At the same time, you want to be sure that they are aware of the full range of resources, such as after school and summer programs, that the school offers as well as how other services connect to the shared goals that you have for their student. Parents need help in making these connections to create a more holistic education and will appreciate sound advice about what students can gain from specific activities offered by the school. Choose Communication Tools that Work for Parents Ask parents what communication methods are best for them. Do not assume that parents are all the same. Using multiple communication methods allows parents to hear from you in ways that work for them. Some traditional options, like notes and calls home, can be time intensive, but work for some parents. There are also a ton of techie ways that can be a little easier to switch up. While email may be great for some parents, you can also try texting, twitter or a classroom blog to provide a range of options. There are some online tools, such as SnappSchool.com, that will let you do multiple methods at once. Measure Your Success Pay attention to results. Are your communications getting parents engaged? Do they show up? Do they return permission slips, do students arrive prepared for class? What methods are providing the most response from parents and students? You can adapt your plan to make the best use of your time. If most parents respond best to email, then you can save yourself some calls home. Don’t let it be an item on the checklist; make it a strategy for achieving your larger classroom goals. Whatever your plan is, open up the lines of communications with parents, and set them up to talk with their kids each day about their school day. This alone can be a powerful thing. http://www.teachhub.com/parent-teacher-communication-tips

12. Article 5-What Can Be Done To Improve Parent-Teacher Communication? Written By: Linda Flanagan It’s not that high school English teacher Mike S. is opposed, exactly, to communicating with the parents of the kids he teaches. It’s just that the idea of calling or emailing parents directly, in the absence of a compelling need, seems unnecessary. “It if ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he explained. Also, the private school where he works uses an advisory system in which students have an adult adviser who serves as the go-between for teachers and students. He avoids sending even friendly emails to parents. “They can turn into a long back-and-forth correspondence, and I’m already feeling quite pressured juggling all of my school demands with my own life as a parent,” he said. How about receiving messages from parents? “If I saw a parent email in my inbox, my gut reaction would be to shift into ‘defensive’ mode.” As it turns out, parents feel much the same. “With the boys, my first reaction was generally, ‘Uh oh, what did he do?’ ” said Sarah Sangree, mother of four, about her gut response to a teacher phone call. There was no distinguishable pattern to teacher communication — some teachers never communicated at all — so the few times she did get a message, she assumed the worst. “I figured no news was good news,” she added. What the Research Shows This failure to communicate between teachers and parents appears to be the norm. In a 2012 study conducted by the National Household Education Surveys Program, 59 percent of parents with children in public school reported having never received a phone call from a teacher. A mere 49 percent of parents who had been contacted by school staff reported being “very satisfied” with the exchange. And although more parents received emails from schools than they had a decade before, much of that increase went to families living above the poverty line. Matthew Kraft, who carried out the research, calls that discrepancy an “income-based email communication gap,” one of many holes in the ways teachers and parents exchange information. Kraft is an assistant professor of education and economics at Brown, and he has spent years studying the lapses in parent-teacher communication. Students suffer most from the lack of quality communication between the two camps, Kraft says. “Our intuition that teacher communication with parents is a good thing is exactly right,” he told me. Several studies corroborate that claim. In a recent project on “light touch” communication between teachers and parents, Kraft and co-author Todd Rogers found that at-risk high school kids performed better when their parents received a short email at the end of the week that identified student trouble spots and offered specific, actionable information on how to improve. In another study conducted during the summer at a charter school, Kraft and colleague Shaun Dougherty found that regular phone calls home immediately improved a child’s attendance, behavior and class involvement. If better communication is so effective, why don’t teachers do it more? “Implementation barriers” are the first hurdle, Kraft says, including defunct email addresses and phone numbers, language barriers and outdated address books. Even more troublesome is the absence of norms, in most schools, on the frequency and content of teacher-parent communication. “There’s no clear expectation on best practices, or what that communication should look like,” he explained. The limitations of the clock also factor in: Teachers in large public schools who might be teaching as many as 150 kids a day are hard-pressed to find time for meaningful one-on-one communication with parents. “It’s not sustainable for all teachers to use parent calls,” Kraft said.

13. Article 5 (Continued) How Schools Can Set Norms Despite obstacles, schools can do much to help teachers contact parents, starting with establishing norms for communication that defuse built-in tensions and make allowances for teachers’ time. Having a communication policy that asks teachers to contact parents monthly, say, would subvert parents’ expectations that a phone call from the teacher means trouble at school. To make outreach more attractive to teachers, schools need to make communication central to the teachers’ work, not just an add-on to their growing list of responsibilities. In practice, that means making time during the school day for teachers to contact parents, Kraft says. As well, teachers need guidance on the content of those messages and how to say them. And what works for one school won’t work for all, Kraft cautions. None of this will be easy. And low-income schools with underachieving students have an additional challenge: These parents can be the hardest to engage. Kimberly, who taught English for three years at a low-performing charter school in New Jersey, said she had to chase down parents to share feedback. “I never had a situation where parents were too involved,” she told me. On back-to-school night, the first opportunity for parents to talk with their children’s teachers in person, just a handful of parents showed up. In Kraft’s own experience teaching in Oakland and Berkeley, he found much the same: “The parents you most need to talk to are the least likely to come,” he said. He believes schools can do better in making this annual event more accessible, convenient and “translatable” for low-income parents. And all parents, no matter the school district, benefit if back-to-school night is early enough in the school year that parents and teachers can get a good start on establishing a partnership that serves the students, The Promise of Text Messaging As for the most underused and promising form of parent-teacher communication, Kraft is clear: It’s texting. “It’s not a rich technology, but it’s a mode of communication that’s the least utilized, with the highest upside,” he said. Texting allows senders to “push” information out to recipients. The ubiquity of phones, even among low-income families, makes them a convenient portal for transmitting vital news, allowing teachers to reach parents with individualized messages. The space limitations that texting imposes, furthermore, encourage quick and direct messaging from teachers. Even simple instructions like “needs to study for test,” or “attendance has slipped” — some of the “light-touch” messages that produced good outcomes in one of Kraft’s studies — can be useful. And teachers who text might consider doing the following: alternate positive reinforcement with suggestions for improvement; remind parents about important assignments and upcoming tests; fill in parents on what students are studying in class. “The combination of our collective wisdom about best practices, on top of the growing body of research on communication, suggests that schools should invest in formal communication systems,” Kraft says. For some teachers, of course, communicating with parents comes naturally, system or no system. “I talk to parents all the time,” said Marcy Rosner, a history teacher in Oakland. “My students know that I have a relationship with their parents, which gives them a sense of accountability.” Conflict in the classroom diminishes as a result, Rosner said, though the routine communicating devours her free time. Still, she believes that connecting with parents is crucial for the well-being of her students because it builds a support net for the kids. “They have a community of folks who care about them,” Rosner explained. “What we are getting is this haphazard mix of some teachers communicating effectively and others who are not,” Kraft said. “That is not fair to parents or students. We need to help teachers share their best practices and make communication the norm rather than the exception.” http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/11/17/what-can-be-done-to-improve-parent-teacher-communication/

14. Students with Disabilities Game Idea 1 Water and Sand Tables Sand and water tables are good idea for both students with and without disabilities, but one needs to be sure and make their tables accessible to all types of students. For example, if there is a student in one’s class who is in a wheelchair, then at least one of the sand and water tables should be both high and wide enough for wheelchair accessibility. Another important thing is to make sure that the table is completely stable, as well as versatile. Always make sure that there is a variety of toys in the boxes for children to play with, as children love to explore. A teacher could also provide different textures for the children to handle. Instead of only putting sand or water in the boxes, one could also put rice, or beans. http://www.ascoeducational.co.uk/section.php?xSec=13&xPage=4 http://www.eclre.org/media/84761/adaptingactivitiesand_materialsec-1.pdf

15. Students with Disabilities Game Idea 2 BINGO! BINGO is a wonderful game for any child, but is particularly useful for children with disabilities. This game is very simple and easy for students, as it has very few rules, and requires little from them. Most students enjoy it immensely, and there are very few that are physically or mentally unable to play. Furthermore, this game enhances fine motor skills in many children with and without disabilities. Of course a teacher might need to tweak things a little depending on the disability that his/her student might have. For example, if a students disability is that they cannot see well, then a teacher might need to supply this student with larger printed BINGO cards. http://www.onlinefreebingo.co.uk/blog/connecting-the-generations-through-bingo/ http://specialed.about.com/od/mathfoundations/a/Games-To-Support-Students-With-Disabilities.htm

16. Students with Disabilities Game Idea 3 Musical Ball Musical Ball is played by a group of children standing in a circle and throwing the ball around that circle until a bell (or some other “musical” sound) rings, at which time, they change directions, and throw the ball the other way. Musical Ball is an excellent game for children with disabilities, as well as one that leaad to the whole class of children coming together for something.This game can be done standing up, or even sitting down in a chair or wheelchair. Also if a hearing impaired child is playing, the signal can be changed to a hand signal instead of a sound. http://www.livestrong.com/article/212243-ball-games-for-disabled-children/ http://www.aboutawomanaboutagirl.com/repeal-s-43-canadian-spanking-law/silhouette-group-of-happy-children-playing-on-meadow-sunset-s/

17. Students with Disabilities Game Idea 4 I Spy “I spy” is an amazing game for children with disabilities for many reasons. Most children (as well as many adults) love to play “I Spy” and will spend hours doing so. This game is simple, so most children understand how to play relatively quick. It can be played many different ways. From finding pictures in a book, to finding items in a bottle of sand or water, its possibilities seem endless. The difficulty of the game can either be brought up or lowered, depending on the student. Another interesting thing is that, for children who are blind, or nearly blind, it can be changed into an “I Hear” game, where children listen for and identify certain sounds, as opposed to looking for certain items. http://www.hdwallpapers.in/cute_kids_cute_play-wallpapers.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_spy

18. Students with Disabilities Game Idea 5 Boccia http://motivateeast.co.uk/sports/boccia/ Boccia is a game which is often played by people who’s motor skills are impaired, both as a treatment as well as for fun. It is played by people dividing into teams, however large or small, and then each player taking turns throwing a leather-like ball at the target point. Whichever team has the most balls closest to the target at the end of the game is the winner. This is a good game for children without disabilities too, so both children with and without them will be able to participate in the game together. http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/disability-activities-kids.aspx

19. Assistive Technology Games 1 Games Involving the Use of a Switch http://www.especialneeds.com/assistive-technology-adaptive-switches.html There are numerous games that can be played by children in need of assistive technology, through what is known as the switch. Children with many different types of disabilities can all use the switch pretty easily. The switch is useful for children to use to buzz in in quiz games, spin the spinner in spinner games, and even turn the page when reading a book on a computer or online.

20. Assistive Technology Games 2 • Games Using Motorized Wheelchairs Through assistive technology, it has become possible for students who are confined to a wheel chair to play numerous games, which at one time must have seemed almost impossible. Particularly useful to these children are motorized wheelchairs. One game that children might be able to play using motorized wheelchairs would be basketball. They can also take part in both races and relay races. These become possible due to the fact that the child is not having to use any energy to move his chair, and because the child has the use of at least one of his hands. http://www.ottobock.co.uk/wheelchairs-seating/common-conditions/brittle-bones/

21. Assistive Technology Games 3 • Games Using the Beeping Ball The Beeping Ball is a ball that makes a beeping noises. It can be set to do different things. Some beep only when they hit something, while others beep almost continuously. The main users of this toy are people suffering from blindness. There are any number of games that can be played with this special ball. As a general rule, almost any game that can be played by normal children with a normal ball, can be played by a blind child with a beeping ball. This includes soccer, four square, musical ball, kickball, catch, and many others. Though it might be difficult for children to get used to using this ball, it is far from impossible. http://visionfora.blogspot.com/2013/05/beep-kickball-is-awesome.html

22. Assistive Technology Games 4 • Games Using Voice Output Devices Voice output devices are a very useful assistive technology, and can be used in a number of different ways, as well as for a number of different things. Children who cannot speak, or write, can easily participate with just the touch of a button. These students can take part in trivial games, or games such as I Spy, without ever having to move their mouth! http://successimg.com/speech-communication-devices

23. Assistive Technology Games 5 • Games Involving IPads or Tablets IPads and Tablets have revolutionized learning all over the world, so it is no wonder that they are one of the most important assistive technology products used inside schools in America. The amount of things that a child can do on these tablets seems endless, and there are many apps out there that were actually designed specifically for children with disabilities. IPads and tablets have the capabilities to allow children to play games through speech, motion, or touch, making it possible for children to participate in class game play such as trivial games focused on anything from math to history. http://www.edudemic.com/5-critical-mistakes-schools-ipads-and-correct-them/

24. Work Cited https://www.pinterest.com/pin/210684088788452073 http://coloring.ninja/middle-school-math-bulletin-boards http://quoteimg.com/social-studies-bulletin-board-ideas/www.myclassroomideas.com%5Ewp-content%5Euploads%5E2013%5E03%5Eegyptian-adventure-bulletin-board-idea.jpg/imgarcade.com%5E1%5Esocialstudiesclassroomdecoratingideas%5E http://teachinghappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2011/06/bulletin-board-ideas-linky-party.html http://www.pecentral.com/BulletinBoard/ViewBulletinBoard.asp?ID=1498 http://www.ascoeducational.co.uk/section.php?xSec=13&xPage=4 http://www.eclre.org/media/84761/adaptingactivitiesand_materialsec-1.pdf http://www.digitalpromise.org/blog/entry/using-technology-for-effective-parent-teacher-communication http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/689 http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2010/09/parent-teacher-student-communication-going-beyond-paper-newsletters-and-emails http://www.teachhub.com/parent-teacher-communication-tips http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/11/17/what-can-be-done-to-improve-parent-teacher-communication http://www.onlinefreebingo.co.uk/blog/connecting-the-generations-through-bingo/ http://specialed.about.com/od/mathfoundations/a/Games-To-Support-Students-With-Disabilities.htm http://www.livestrong.com/article/212243-ball-games-for-disabled-children http://www.aboutawomanaboutagirl.com/repeal-s-43-canadian-spanking-law/silhouette-group-of-happy-children-playing-on-meadow-sunset-s http://motivateeast.co.uk/sports/boccia http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/disability-activities-kids.aspx http://www.ottobock.co.uk/wheelchairs-seating/common-conditions/brittle-boneshttp://www.ottobock.co.uk/wheelchairs-seating/common-conditions/brittle-bones http://www.especialneeds.com/assistive-technology-adaptive-switches.html http://visionfora.blogspot.com/2013/05/beep-kickball-is-awesome.html http://www.edudemic.com/5-critical-mistakes-schools-ipads-and-correct-them http://successimg.com/speech-communication-devices